Tuesday, September 28, 2010

An update

Things have really been busy on the farm. The party is over, we had about 90 people, it was fantastic. It was great to see so many familiar faces and get to meet so many new people. If you missed it this year don't worry we plan on having one next year too!After a summer without refrigeration in the house we finally found a propane fridge and we love it! The old fridge always seemed to have problems but we just made due, as you can see from the picture of the house the old one was out of an R.V. it had a soft padded brown fake leather front. The new one is much bigger has a freezer and actually looks like a real fridge. We found it on Craigslist for a good price and only had to drive 6 hours round trip to get it.When people find out how we live one of the first questions we seem to get asked is how we bathe. Well up until now it was outside in the summer and from a warm pot of water in the winter. Last year I actually joined a gym so I could shower, but not anymore! We have a hot water heater! This is in what we call the coop. It is an old chicken coop that was turned into a ice fishing shack and is now our bathroom/laundry room. We have a propane heater in there as well- talk about livin' the high life! The kid got to take the first bath and she loved it, I have to say it was a wonderful bath. The water heater is a 20 gallon one that we heat up with the generator. It takes about an hour but we can use the generator for other things that don't take much juice during that time. It is very exciting!Chuck has been working on rebuilding the barn he took down, I need to get out there and take pictures to share with you all. He is also starting on the addition. I have been busy getting ready for the winter. This year I canned peaches, pears, beets, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I have also been freezing corn, peas, beans, strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, and pies. I still have more to do but I am making progress.

Yesterday the pigs were slaughtered, which happens on the farm. We only had 6 pigs to bring in for processing, prices were very high this year so we decided to raise less, and we still made no money. We are not sure what we are going to do for next year, just might raise enough for our freezer and the pig roast. Daniel Klein from The Perennial Plate was out here again filming the pigs, he also took some of the heads to make wonderful things with. Not sure when the film will be up but I will let you all know about it.The picture below is after a long day of getting the hair off these pig heads!